Food Types

Food can be classified according to their functions:
Energy giving foods
Body building foods
Protective and regulatory foods

Food groups comprise Basic Four, Basic Five, Basic Seven, Basic Nine and Basic Eleven Food Group Plans. The nine-group plan is listed below.

1. Cereal and Millet: This group includes rice, wheat, ragi, bajra, jowar, corn and all products made from them like cereal flakes, puffed cereals, noodles, macaroni, bread, pizza bread and cakes.

2. Pulse, Lentil and Legume: Some examples are black, red and green gram, bengal gram, cowpea, peas and rajma.

3. Milk and Milk Products: This group includes cow's milk, buffalo milk, goat's milk, butter, ghee, paneer, cheese, kheer, payasam, rabdi, basundi and similar foods.

4. Nut and Oilseed: Groundnut, cashew nut, walnut, pistachio and badam comprise this group.

5. Fat and Oil: This category includes groundnut oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, sunflower, safflower oil, butter and ghee. Fat can be visible fat, like oil. There is also invisible fat that cannot be seen but is consumed. For example, nuts and oil seeds also contain fat. Fat could be vegetable fat or animal fat.

6. Vegetables: There are four different groups of vegetables:
• Green leafy vegetables - such as spinach, lettuce, coriander and mint. • Roots - such as beetroot, carrot and radish. • Tubers - such as potatoes, yams, onions and colocasia. • Other vegetables - such as cucumber, tomato, ladies finger and brinjal.

7. Fruits: There are four different groups of fruits:
• Yellow and orange fruits - such as papaya and mango. • Citrus fruits - such as oranges, lemons. • Dry fruits - such as figs, dates, raisins. • Other fruits - such as banana, pineapple, grapes.

8. Herbs, Condiments and Spices: This category includes fenugreek, turmeric, tamarind, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and pepper.

9. Meat, Poultry and Seafood: Some examples are mutton, chicken, eggs and all edible birds, fish, crab, lobsters and shrimp.
The food that you consume provides essential chemical compounds called nutrients. Some of these are:
• Carbohydrates - energy giving • Protein - body building • Fats - energy storing • Minerals - protective and regulatory • Vitamins - protective and regulatory • Water


Nutrients and Food Powers Chart